The Coachman
by Aviantei
Summary: [One Shot] The only thing more obvious than that the answer lied behind the mask was which one it was under. [Twelve Shots of Summer: Second Raid]


**The Coachman**

By: Aviantei

A _No Game No Life_ One Shot

[Twelve Shots of Summer Second Raid 2/12]

* * *

" _A letter?_ "

Tucked away in their hidden bedroom, Blank—the acting kings of Elkia—drowsily asked in unison, hardly even awake. Shiro rubbed her eyes as her brother took the time to sit up, looking at their guest in the doorway.

"Huh, I thought we asked Steph to handle all the letters and stuff," Sora muttered. Shiro nodded, confirming the situation. Almost on her last string of patience, the former princess in question frowned.

"You _did_ ask me to handle it—" she was still sore about that one; how irresponsible could they be?! "—but this one's not about policies or a complaint. It's a challenge."

It was like a switch had been hit. Sora immediately stood up, still wearing his clothes from the previous day, and Shiro even sat up, a flicker of interest in her eyes. "Well, nothing to be done about that," Sora said, crossing the room to retrieve the letter. "When Blank gets challenged, we can't lose."

Shiro nodded, standing up and taking a few lazy steps to stand by her brother. Steph gave up the letter, and Sora kneeled down so both members of Blank could read at the same time. They finished at roughly the same time, exchanging glances. "What do you think, _my sister_?"

"Easy, Nii," Shiro replied.

* * *

In essence, the letter was an invitation to a challenge. There was an address listed, and at any point, Blank could visit and play an unspecified game. With their pride and unmarred by defeat winning streak, Sora and Shiro didn't even have to think of whether or not to accept, and immediately set out, handing off the address to their coachman.

"This is some old-school challenge stuff, huh?" Sora muttered, watching the building pass by through the window.

Shiro, playing a rhythm game on her phone, nodded. "I wonder if he notices how obvious he's being," she said.

"Oh, then it's not just me. Must be really obvious if you noticed, too." Sora grinned, patting his sister on the head. Given her level of interaction with people, Shiro being able to read someone was a sure sign of how awful they were at hiding things. "Like you said, this should be easy then."

And, finishing her song with a perfect combo on expert mode, Shiro added, "We can't lose."

* * *

"This is the right place for sure?"

The house itself wasn't anything magnificent, but it was still pretty large from what Sora and Shiro had seen, and the palace didn't count. There appeared to be two floors, but there was nothing to indicate a game of any sort could be played there. Listening, their coachman, nodded.

"This is the place the letter indicated," he said. The siblings had no choice but to take his word on it and headed to the entrance.

Once inside, there wasn't anything special to note, either. It looked all the world like a generic stock background in any game, with bland colors and the most basic of furniture—chairs, a couch, some lighting, and a coffee table. Other than that, the room was empty, no sign of their challenger.

"Nii, he's not here yet."

"We didn't give him any time to move, Shiro. Just be patient."

Having already figured it out, Sora could estimate their challenger would arrive within five minutes. Still, it wasn't the best set up, given that the delay only made it more obvious. Then again, when it came down to it…

The two siblings looked to each other, whirling back towards the entrance, index fingers extended.

"The one who set this all up…was _you_!"

* * *

"Haha, that was the best." Sora laughed, offering his sister a high five. She reciprocated, the small slap breaking the lingering silence. "I mean, it's not every day you get to use Professor Layton's own lines on him."

"I'm sorry…who's that supposed to be?"

Blank's coachman was left stunned in the entryway. There was no getting around it. The man looked every bit like a certain videogame professor, clothes and all. Sora and Shiro had thought so at first sight, but really hadn't had a chance to bring it up. As it was, the man would be eternally Layton in their minds.

"Huh?" Sora asked, tilting his head. "Obviously that's you."

"Nice to meet you, Professor."

"No, I have a name!" This wasn't going anywhere in the direction the man had wanted. If he could present a challenge and win, he could receive any reward he determined. Trying to regain his composure, the coachman cleared his throat. "As you have guessed, I sent that challenge. I wish to challenge you…to my house of puzzles!"

He swept his arm, hoping for a grand gesture, maybe even some awe. However, Sora and Shiro only snickered. "He really is Layton…" Shiro muttered.

The coachman frowned. "Are you avoiding my challenge?" he asked. "That counts as a defeat on your part."

The kings' eyes narrowed, almost sending their coachman recoiling. "Of course not," Sora said. "We'll accept any challenge you've got. What are your terms?"

"I have built a house of puzzles. If you can clear the final puzzle within twenty-four hours, you win. If you fail, then it's my victory. What do you say?"

"We accept," Shiro said, not even needing to confirm with her brother. They both knew the answer anyway. "What do you want if you win?"

The coachman smiled. He had been waiting for this exact moment. "I want enough money throughout my lifetime to live comfortably. As well as being relieved from my duties as your coachman." It wasn't exactly ambitious, but it still took a lot of guts to challenge a king for your goals. Blank had to give him that.

"Then if we win you'll stay as our coachman, _and_ we get to call you Professor Layton," Sora said, listing the first thing off the top of his head. "What do you think, Shiro?"

"Wait just a minute," the coachman interrupted. "We can only bet things that we agree to be equal value. Do you really want to bet a job and a name for money? I'm not asking for a just a small payment."

Sora shrugged. "The pledges only say we have to bet something we _agree_ to be equal value. Doesn't mean we actually need to put forward the same risk. Besides, you're getting the better deal here. What are you complaining for?"

"Fine, I accept." It was a good point. Besides, they hadn't made him agree to not challenge them again. If he lost, it wouldn't be hard to try again. "Now, your starting point is in the next room. Would you follow me?"

Opening one of the doors, the coachman gestured Blank inside. Sora and Shiro entered, then turned to face their challenger.

" _Aschente!_ "

"So, let's get started," Sora said, getting a closer look at the room. Shiro remained at the door, smiling at the coachman as he closed it.

"I look forward to working with you, Professor."

* * *

The new room was a rather simple layout, with a door on the opposite end. Both it and the door they had just entered through were locked. On the new table was a piece of paper, supposedly their first puzzle. However, neither sibling moved to pick it up.

"What did he say?" Sora muttered. "Solve the final puzzle within twenty-four hours?"

"An escape puzzle…" Shiro confirmed. Looking over the walls, there were several numbers, plus some drawers and boxes set across the room. It was, for all the world, an escape puzzle that was incredibly populous as phone apps. Being gamers, Sora and Shiro had played several of these with easy victories.

"So we need the key to get out the main door, then. And the most obvious final puzzle…" Sora looked to Shiro, who was already gazing at the collection of masks along the wall. "Well, I'll just leave you to it."

In less than a minute, Shiro was already stretching for one of the masks, just out of her reach. She pouted, then turned to her brother. "This one, Nii."

"Got it." There were probably traps under the other masks to prevent them from just guessing, and the puzzle giving the necessary hints probably lied farther in the house. But Shiro didn't hesitate, and neither did Sora. Mainly because he trusted his sister's judgement.

Secondly because the mask was sideways, showing that it had been recently moved.

"Man, you wouldn't get this sort of thing on the screen. Can't say if I enjoy it or if it's kind of disappointing." Tossing the mask aside, Sora grabbed the key hanging behind it. "Oh, well. Let's get out of here."

And so, less than five minutes than the game had began, Sora and Shiro had emerged victorious.

* * *

 _Covenant Six: Wagers sworn by the Covenants are absolutely binding._

* * *

Excuse me as I drop off my very lame entry for this week...

(Figures when I post early, it sucks)

This was written for the [Twelve Shots of Summer: Second Raid] challenge. The prompt for week two was "Behind the Mask," and since I'm trying to approach prompts differently plus not write for fandoms I've written before (which eliminates a large pile of my favorite characters for this prompt), I decided on _No Game No Life_ and, well, the answer _literally_ lying behind the mask.

I'll just... go hide in a hole or something...

Ah, writing these guys was a lot harder than I thought! Comedy just isn't my strong point, so I found it kind of hard to figure out where I was going. But I wanted to take a dig at the fact that the anime makes their coachman Professor Layton, so here we go...

If you want to read something better than this, go and check out the Twelve Shots of Summer forum or C2! Everyone else will be posting their week two tomorrow, plus their week one is already up! They're a great group, and you should find something to your tastes there. And, hey, if what we're doing interests you, consider joining us for the summer! It's a lot of fun.

Week three is "And then there will be cake." Not sure what fandom I'm using with, but it's time to figure out how to play with semantics...

Thanks for reading!

[POST] 061215


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